Wordless Wednesday

SAQA Oceania Blog Hop

Welcome to the Oceania Collection Blog Hop!

SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) has an auction of art quilts every year, and this year the Oceania members contributed 32 pieces to the collection.



The Blog Hop goes “behind the scenes” to reveal how many of these pieces came about.

A full list of participating artists is on the main SAQA Oceania blog HERE.

This is my auction piece, Black and White #3:



I love black and white quilts and optical illusion quilts. Black and White #1, also known as Op Art Quilt, was made in 2010, for an art auction at my kids' school:



Black and White #2 was made in March 2012. I had planned it to be my SAQA auction quilt for 2012, but it ended up being too large:



All of these quilts are made in the same way: the background is pieced by sewing strips of black and white fabric together. More strips are sewn together and from this fabric pieces are cut and appliquéd to the background with a satin stitch:



Up close this is easy to see:



For more inspiration, visit Susie Cujes and Maggie Gilbert who have already shared their creations.

Coming up soon are Linda Stokes on 15 August and Robin McGrath on 17 August.

Braided rug made with t-shirt yarn

Pretending I did not have enough projects to keep me busy (the Lone Star Quilt, a quilt for Down Under Quilts) I decided last week to make some t-shirt yarn (you can read how to do that here) and then started braiding a rug (braiding along with Cathy, a year and a half later).



This is where I am now, after many hours of braiding, sewing, unpicking, sewing, braiding some more etc. The diameter is now 60 cm (23 1/2 in) and I plan for the rug to be at least 1 metre wide. I am blogging in more detail about this project on my Blue Jacaranda blog and adding frequent updates to the Blue Jacaranda Facebook page, so do go there if you would like to follow my progress!

Wordless Wednesday

Lone Star sandwiched!

I spent a big part of yesterday afternoon on my knees, sandwiching the Lone Star Quilt. Ran out of safety pins after doing about 5/6 of the quilt and after turning the house upside down looking for more I had to go out and buy some! But it is done - now the quilting, not my favourite part of the quiltmaking process...

Wordless Wednesday

Lone Star Top

Today I added the corner squares and the triangles to the star, and voilà, it's starting to look like a quilt! I am going to add some white borders because as you can see it's a bit small for our bed... Then it has to wait until I find time to buy batting and backing fabric. I want it to be a fairly light quilt that we can use most of the year, so need to find a thin batting. Any recommendations?

Oceania Collection Blog Hop

SAQA (Studio Art Quilts Associates) has an online Benefit Auction of 12" x 12" art quilts every year and this year the Oceania members have contributed 32 pieces to the collection.

During July, August and September the members of SAQA Oceania will be sharing the stories behind their Benefit Auction quilts. The Oceania Collection Blog Hop kicks off today and the first member to show how she made her quilt is Sue Dennis.

A full list of all participating artists and a timetable can be found on the SAQA Oceania blog here.

On 13 August it's my turn to tell you something about my quilt Black & White #3:

Star

Yes!



I did it.




I pieced the Lone Star!

It wasn't really difficult at all - says someone who has never made a quilt with triangle pieces because she thought it would be too hard!

So I'm expecting the next step to be really difficult - adding the square and triangle pieces....

I'll keep you posted!

Tropical Holiday

Finally - here are some photos of our holiday in Tropical North Queensland. We stayed at Yorkeys Knob, one of the beaches north of Cairns and a popular spot for kite surfers. I showed you the sign at the entrance to the beach on Wednesday!



We arrived on Friday and on Saturday we spent the day in Cairns, where I spotted this gorgeous butterfly on a wall. I thought the garbage bins were very cute:



The kids had a ball at Muddy's playground on the Esplanade. I love the fish-shaped fence:



Of course we had to visit the Botanic Gardens:





On Monday we drove up into the Atherton Tablelands where we visited a coffee plantation and had a lovely lunch in Djungaburra. Such a beautiful area!





Of course we had to visit the Great Barrier Reef, so on Wednesday we took a boat to Green Island.



There we did a little snorkeling and went on short trip with a semisubmersible. The boys loved it! (and so did I)





This is my favourite photo - taken from the pier on Green Island:



On Thursday we took the famous Sky Rail from Cairns to Kuranda. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very good that day:



We had a great day nevertheless. In Kuranda we visited the butterfly garden:



After a lovely lunch we took the train back to Cairns - on the Kuranda Scenic Railway. A great experience!











Finally, on Friday, we flew back to Brisbane.



An unforgettable holiday!

Wordless Wednesday

Antique quilts

The two antique quilts I bought online a while ago both arrived today - very exciting!



This Kite Quilt is so pretty - in a very good condition and so beautifully hand-quilted. My 8-year-old son just admired it and I told him that he can have it when he is grown up and has a baby - it will be a hundred years old then! (he was very impressed)



This one is also very beautiful.



It is machine quilted:



I'm very happy with my purchases and will keep my eye out for other small antique quilts. Have you ever bought an antique quilt?

Yes, it is a Lone Star!

We are back from a lovely holiday in Tropical North Queensland and I will be sharing some pics soon, but first I have to show you this. I have been sewing very hard this weekend (we came back on Friday) and I just finished the 8th block of my new quilt! Yes, it is a Lone Star - also known as Star of Bethlehem, Rising Star, Morning Star and Star of the East. It has always been one of my favourite quilt patterns and I suddenly had an irresistible urge to make one!

One block measures 36in/91 cm from point to point, so I think this quilt will end up on our bed. I know I said at some point I would never make another bed quilt... Never say never, hmmm?

Progress

Three blocks done, five more to go. Surely you know what I am making now?

The new quilt

Someone asked if I was doing an Irish Chain in red and white - it was possible, but no!
Here are the next few steps; I did have some time this morning when our guests were sleeping off their jet lag. Below is the first completed block - there was some unpicking involved, but I'm quite proud of the final product! Can you guess what it will be now?



It's so nice to have family visiting! (they're staying in an apartment close to us as our Queenslander isn't big enough to house another family) The boys are having a ball with their little cousins. Here they are all having diner together at their own table.